NETWORKING CONCEPTS AND

COMPONENTS
Networking is the concept of sharing resources and services. A network of
computers is a group of interconnected systems sharing resources and
interacting using a shared communications link (see Figure). A network,
therefore, is a set of interconnected systems with something to share.
The shared resource can be data, a printer, a fax modem, or a service
such as a database or an email system. The individual systems must be
connected through a pathway (called the transmission medium) that is
used to transmit the resource or service between the computers. All
systems on the pathway must follow a set of common communication
rules for data to arrive at its intended destination and for the sending and
receiving systems to understand each other. The rules governing
computer communication are called protocols.
In summary, all networks must have the following:
• A resource to share (resource)
• A

pathway to transfer data (transmission medium)

• A set of rules governing how to communicate (protocols)

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